Tigers shake off rust in return to practice

The Clemson football players had a nice break from the school and practice.

Coach Dabo Swinney said some of them went skiing in Utah. Others went on a cruise, visited girlfriends or spent time at home.

When they returned to the practice field Monday, the Tigers looked like a team that had been away from the game. It could have been a lot worse, though.

“I felt like some people picked up where they left off. There were definitely some guys a little sluggish coming off the break,” Clemson defensive end Austin Bryant said. “It wasn’t the worst practice you could have coming off of spring break. It’s a good place to start from and keep building toward the (April 8) spring game.”

Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said he has seen the first practice back from spring break not go as well as Monday, when he witnessed an offense that didn’t have many missed assignments, but lacked some of the execution.

The Tigers have transitioned from the Deshaun Watson-Mike Williams-Wayne Gallman era to a new unit.

“It was sloppy at times today, but there were also guys who stepped up and made some plays. Overall, inconsistent,” Scott said. “It was still not to the standard this group has set in the past.”

The team went to its tempo drills right off the bat. Clemson ran 20 plays in five minutes to “gas” the players and see if they could still execute on a warm afternoon.

“Some of them responded well and pushed through, and some of them didn’t,” Scott said.

Swinney said it didn’t look like the team was starting over, but there was some rust. He liked what he saw from the quarterbacks, though. He said 80 percent of the offense has been installed, so they are working on the pace of Kelly Bryant, Zerrick Cooper and Hunter Johnson.

“They just looked more comfortable today, processing stuff, especially Hunter,” Swinney said. “Obviously, he’s got the farthest to come from running a system standpoint. He looked a lot more comfortable today, and the same with Zerrick. That’s pleasing to see.”

Clemson will practice on Wednesday with a full scrimmage and then practice again Friday.

“Second half of spring is a lot of evaluation,” Swinney said.

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Tigers shake off rust in return to practice."